Government Information Quarterly
Volume 12, Number 2, 1995
DISCUSSION FORUM
Disinformation and Misinformation through the Internet
Findings of an Exploratory Study
Peter Hernon ..................................................................................................................... 133
ARTICLES
The Reference and Research Services of the German
Bundestag
Rupert Schick and Gerhard Hahn
......................................................................................... 141
Working with the Public to Ensure Public Access to Federal Information
in an Electronic Age: Proceedings of the Fifth Solomons
Interagency Conference on Public Access, June 27-28, 1994
Neil J. Stillman and Norman Oslik
.................................................................................... 163
Federal Environmental Impact Statements As an Important
Source of Information
Patricia S. Orr
............................................................................................................. 199
Does the Federal Government Need an A-130 for STI?
J. Timothy Sprehe
........................................................................................................ 213
Contributors ........................................................................................................................ 225
REVIEWS
The American Presidency: An Intellectual History
By Forrest McDonald
Reviewed by Harold C. Relyea ......................................................................................... 227
Communication and Control: Networks and the New
Economies of Communication
By G.J. Mulgan
Reviewed by James F. Igoe .................................................................................................. 228
CRISP: Biomedical Research Information, 1993 (CD-ROM)
By United States Department of Health and Human Resources,
National Institutes of Health, Division of Research Grants
Federal Tax Forms, 1993 (CD-ROM)
By United States Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service
1990 Census Transportation Planning Package (CTPP)
By United States Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation
Statistics, and United States Department of Commerce,
Bureau of the Census.
United States Code, 1992 (CD-ROM)
By United States Congress, House, Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Reviewed by Duncan Aldrich .......................................................................................... 229
Freedom, Technology, and the First Amendment
By Jonathan W. Emord
Reviewed by Peter Giordano .................................................................................... 232
The Idea Brokers: Think Tanks and the Rise of the New Policy Elite
By James A. Smith
Reviewed by James Love ................................................................................................ 233
Information for Management: A Handbook
Edited by James M. Matarazzo and Miriam A. Drake
Reviewed by Cynthia Wolff ................................................................................................ 234
Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure:
A Preliminary Draft
By the National Information Infrastructure Task Force,
Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights
Protecting Intellectual Property Rights on the Information Superhighways
By Joseph L. Ebersole
Reviewed by Ron Palenski .......................................................................................... 234
The Internet Troubleshooter: Help for the Logged-On and Lost
By Nancy R. John and Edward J. Valauskas
Reviewed by Linda A. Kopecky ................................................................................236
Libraries and the lnternet/NREN: Perspectives, Issues, and Challenges
By Charles R. McClure, William E. Moen, and Joe Ryan
Public Libraries and the lnternet: Study Results,
Policy Issues, and Recommendations
By Charles R. McClure, John Carlo Bertot and Douglas L. Zweizig
Reviewed by Norman D. Stevens .................................................................................... 237
Managing Privacy. Information Technology and Corporate America
By H. Jeff Smith
Reviewed by Robert Gellman ................................................................................... 238
Silencing Science: National Security Controls and Scientific Communication
By Harold C. Relyea
Reviewed by L. Vaughn Blankenship .............................................................................. 239
Using Government Information Sources: Print and Electronic, 2nd edition
By Jean L. Sears and Marilyn K. Moody
Reviewed by Andrea Sevetson .................................................................................... 241
Rupert Schick
Gerhard Hahn
Unlike the Reseach Services of the parliaments of the English-speaking world and Japan, the Reference and Research Services of the German Bundestag, which convened for the first time in 1949, also comprise the secretariats of the committees, including the Petitions Committee and its five divisions for processing the petitions and submissions received from constituents. Initially, the parliamentary library, set up in 1949, did research. The research divisions, or subject matter areas, which were established in 1964, all developed from the library. They do not form part of the parliamentary library; rather, the library is a division of the Reference and Research Services, which make up one of the directorates-general of the Administration of the German Bundestag. This article gives an overview of the organization of the organization of the Reference and Research Services, their main fields of work, and the information which they provide to assist the German Bundestag.
Neil J. Stillman
Norman Oslik
This article reports on the fifth interagency conference. Summaries of previous conferences have appeared in volume 9, number 2 (1992): 187-198; volume 10, number 2 (1993): 237-253; volume 10, number 4 (1993): 461-476; volume 11, number 1 (1994): 89-125.
Patricia S. Orr
This article examines the background and characteristics of environmental impact statements (EIS), prepared by Federal agencies in compliance with the National Envirornmental Policy Act of 1969, and discusses the sources that provide bibliographic control for EISs. In order to encourage awareness of the studies, the article explores their usefulness beyond their original function, outlines the legislative basis for EISs, describes the EIS process and format, and identifies government and private sector sources that facilitate access to them. A table listing the sources suggests alternatives for locating and acquiring the studies.
J. Timothy Sprehe
The article argues that the Federal government needs to develop special government- wide policies, similar to OMB Circular No. A-130, which would be applicable to scientific and technical information (STI). After exploring the relation between government information and government STI, the author points out that Federal statistics has its own special set of policies known as Statistical Policy Directives. STI's situation is different from other government information because it is carried out in the culture of science and academia, in the culture of classified information and export controls, and in the international arena. A policy circular for STI would touch on Federal research and development, technology transfer, classified and export control information, international considerations, interagency sharing, and several existing areas of policy. The Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, or the National Science and Technology Council could issue the policy.
Gerhard Hahn, who has a Ph.D. degree in economics, is the head of the Subject and Speakers' Indexes Division, which forms part of the Reference and Research Services of the German Bundestag. After studying economics and library science, he worked in academic institutions in Tubingen and Marburg before joining the Library of the German Bundestag in 1971. He became Deputy Librarian in 1974. In 1966, he was appointed head of the Subject and Speakers' Indexes Division.
Patricia S. Orr holds a B.A. degree in French from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. She recently received her M.S. degree from Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Boston. She has worked in a public library and a corporate information center, and is currently a reference librarian in the Science and Engineering Library at Boston University.
Norman Oslik is the Director, Division of Network Management in the Office of Information Resources Management, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In addition to addressing issues related to public access to government information, his main responsibilities include the management of the Office of the Secretary data communications network that supports 4,500 people in headquarters and 10 regional offices. Prior to joining HHS in 1987, he led software development efforts in support of scientific data collection and research at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He earned his B.S. and M.A. degrees in mathematics from the University of Michigan.
Rupert Schick, who has a Ph.D. degree in law, is the head of the Reference and Research Services of the German Bundestag. He worked at the Federal Ministry of Defence before moving to the Administration of the German Bundestag in 1966. He was Secretary of the Defence Committee and head of the Petitions and Submissions Directorate. He has been in charge of the Reference and Research Services since 1987.
J. Timothy Sprehe is president of Sprehe Information Management Associates, a firm offering consulting in the Federal marketplace on information issues. Now retired from the Office of Management and Budget, Dr. Sprehe was the principal author of the 1985 government-wide information policy directive, OMB Circular No. A-130, Management of Federal Information Resources. He writes frequently in the field of Federal information policy, including a regular column for Federal Computer Week, a newspaper specializing in the Federal information technology market.
Neil J. Stillman is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Resources Management for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Stillman establishes IRM policies, administers HHS's IRM strategic plan, guides and oversees the development of information systems and communications networks, including Office of the Secretary infrastructure management and applications development, and coordinates with GSA, GAO, OMB, and the Congress on the Department's IRM programs. He currently serves as the President of the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils (FGIPC), the Vice-Chairman of the Interagency Committee for Information Resources Management (IAC/IRM), and the Agency co- chair of the Federal IRM Policy Council (FIRMPOC), and is a member of the Government Information Technology Services (GITS) Working Group. He has been named by Federal Computer Week as one of the "Federal 100" for 1994 and 1995, an award honoring government, academic, and industry executives who have made the greatest impact on the use of information technology. He earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Queens College (City University of New York), a master's degree in physics from Yeshiva University, and a doctorate in computer science from Syracuse University.
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